Indonesia to regulate e-com to prevent predatory pricing

09 Mar '21

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

Indonesia plans to introduce a regulation this month to prevent predatory pricing on e-commerce platforms, including for Chinese goods, according to trade minister Muhammad Lutfi, who recently said President Joko Widodo’s call to shun imported products was in response to concerns that Chinese manufacturers are copying products designed by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia and selling those on foreign e-commerce platforms at a fraction of the price.

“Calls to love our own products, Indonesian products, must be echoed. I also campaign for hatred towards products coming from abroad,” the president said during a trade ministry event recently.

Lutfi said artificial intelligence is used to identify the best sellers and it is difficult to complain to the World Trade Organisation as the use of digital platforms obscures the origin of goods, according to Indonesian media reports.

Last year, Indonesia lowered the threshold at which it begins to impose import taxes on consumer goods sold via e-commerce to reduce overseas shipments, especially those coming from China.

China is Indonesia’s biggest trade partner and a major investor, but Jakarta has complained of a persistently large trade deficit. The average annual deficit in merchandise trade in the past six years was $14 billion, according to Indonesian trade ministry data.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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